Former Wimbledon, Liverpool and England defender John Scales energised by challenge at Raynes Park Vale

BY EDMUND BRACK

After an extended period away from the sport where he made more than 400 professional appearances, won three England caps, played for Liverpool and Tottenham and lifted the FA Cup with Wimbledon, John Scales is back in football.

The 55-year-old stepped into Raynes Park Vale over the summer as a club consultant after spending close to two decades being involved in a number of ventures related to sport, from a marketing company to TV production and commentating on the Dutch Eredivisie for five years.

Raynes Park play in the Combined Counties League and are fifth in the Premier Division South table, with manager Josh Gallagher – the older brother of Crystal Palace and England international Conor – leading the charge towards the Isthmian League.

Scales is one of the owners and also director of football.

“We’re just managing this club, taking it forward and shaping it in a way where it can have a great impact on the local community,” he told the South London Press.

“It’s a great challenge. I didn’t know what to expect coming into a Combined Counties football club and not knowing a lot about that level of football – the standard, the requirements and challenges – but I have loved every single minute of it.

“We have got a great team of us all pulling in a direction to get the pitch better, to get the stands better, to get the ground better and making sure the clubhouse is better. The whole environment has been transformed. There is a lot of work to do but we’re all enjoying the challenge.

“The quality of the players has amazed me. I thought it would be much more unsophisticated. Trust me, it’s not. These players are totally committed first and foremost – they are training on a Tuesday and Thursday and then a game on a Saturday.

“Josh’s diligence and how he approaches the job has surprised me – it’s highly commendable. There are a lot of good teams in this league – Walton & Hersham and Jersey Bulls.

“Many of the players at Raynes Park have been at the academy with Wimbledon, not made it and dropped down. Others have been at this level and are ambitious to work their way up to step four or higher. They are a really motivated group.

“For me, it’s about the value I can add to the players – collectively and individually with Josh. I can help Josh become a better coach and manager. I hope it’s good for him, as it’s fulfilling for me. I am the conduit between the owners, the management, the chairman and across the whole thing. As a small club, it’s all hands on deck – you’re a family that wants to do well on the pitch and off the pitch.”

Scales’ 17-year playing career reached illustrious levels – playing against Brazil’s Dunga, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo on the international stage as well as playing for Liverpool.

The Harrogate-born defender’s shaping as a player and person came at Wimbledon. Brought into the ‘Crazy Gang’ in 1987 by Bobby Gould, Scales joined a club and squad that became notorious for their no-nonsense style of play and off-the-field antics.

“When you say the Crazy Gang, everyone assumes that means it’s sort of one dimensional and just mad,” said Scales.

“It certainly was mad, but it was intense. There was an intensity about Wimbledon and the Crazy Gang, which was embracing all personalities and characters – that was the main thing. Not one size fits all.

“What the Crazy Gang was about was not shying away from conflict and using it for a force for good in the dressing room – to galvanise what we were and who we were – and using it against our opposition.

“There was intimidation from the fact that we are big characters and didn’t shy away from challenges. Did I fit in? I did, because I was a strong personality.

“My character showed itself in a different way than others, but I had the strength of character that I was brought up with, and ultimately, I flourished within it.

“The early days were a challenge, and I wasn’t sure whether I would get through it fully and well. But I did, and it stood me in good stead.”

From burning items, being thrown into rivers and clothes being cut up, there were also tales of players being tied to the top of cars and driven down the A3.

“Football was very different in those days,” said Scales, who lives in Wimbledon Village.

“The whole culture of being a professional footballer, how clubs operate and how players behaved, it was a different era. So much of it wouldn’t be acceptable now, as to be a professional now, the expectation of behaviour was different.

“Those initiation tests were the honesty, brutality and togetherness of the dressing room. It was a close band of brothers where you had to be amongst it – you couldn’t be outside of it.

“Nowadays dressing rooms aren’t as close and tightly knit as Wimbledon was in those days. The initiation tests were part of that design and making sure that nobody got above their station – it kept everyone’s feet on the ground.

“That was part and parcel of testing you to make sure that you abided by the rules and you accepted that you were not bigger, better or different from anyone else – you were all one. It was part of a process to bind ourselves together.”

Scales made 240 appearances for the Dons, scored 11 goals and played 27 minutes in the 1988 FA Cup final victory against Liverpool. He helped them achieve a sixth-place finish in the Premier League in his final season there.

The Reds had courted Scales for more than a year before he eventually made the switch to Anfield in the summer of 1994.

When Scales initially asked for a transfer from Wimbledon to join Graeme Souness’ side, then owner Sam Hammam’s official way of declining the transfer request was writing on a note: ‘No way, Jose,’ with a smiley face at the end.

Liverpool paid £3.5million to secure Scales’ services the following year. He said: “I was desperate to play for Liverpool – that was the club I dreamt of playing for when I got into football. Without doubt, to take nothing away from Wimbledon, it was an easy decision to make.”

Scales’ current football concerns are plotting how Raynes Park can become more involved in the local community and drawing a fanbase to Prince George’s Playing Fields every other Saturday, he still has an overwhelming sense of frustration towards his playing career.

He won the League Cup with Liverpool and Tottenham.

“I am my worst critic,” said Scales. “I look back and wish I knew then what I knew now – but how many of us say that? I could have done more.

“I am ambitious and want to do things as well as I possibly can. I am incredibly proud of what I achieved. I have got great memories and achieved more than many people in the game could have wished to.

“I am privileged for the career I had – it took me to Liverpool, which was the pinnacle of a career in England. But I set my standards high, and there are elements that are keeping me motivated and driving forward now.

“The injuries I suffered hampered my career around that time when I was playing for England. That’s the frustration that I look back on, and I wished I could have played for England more times and enjoyed that experience.

“It was the golden era working and playing around that squad at the time. In the late 90s and Euro 96, the whole group was a special collective. The disappointment is that I don’t have even stronger experiences from that time.

“While I am not playing football anymore, I take that ambition and dissatisfaction as a positive force.

“I have never been happier, but I have got this burning desire to do things, achieve things and have an impact on what I do.

“At Raynes Park Vale, that impact is what can we do better in Merton as a borough with sport and football as a tool for that? There is so much to do and accomplish. Using my ability to have a high profile in football is good for me, and I want to use it towards bettering football and sports in this area.”